


The Things You Find on the Run from a Mob

by TheseusInTheMaze



Category: Original Work
Genre: Bondage, Cunnilingus, F/F, Human/God, Vaginal Fingering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:48:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25966147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheseusInTheMaze/pseuds/TheseusInTheMaze
Summary: "What brings you to my forest?" The woman asked.This feels like a village party, Mariella thought, and that was a surreal road to go down, wasn't it? The image of this strange woman sitting at some village fete, sipping ale and nibbling bread popped into her head, and she bit back a grin that would probably come off as crazed.She'd be taller than some of the men.
Relationships: Forest Goddess/Female Outlaw Hiding In Her Forest, Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Comments: 4
Kudos: 74
Collections: Femslash After Dark 2020





	The Things You Find on the Run from a Mob

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PrisonersDilemma](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrisonersDilemma/gifts).



Mariella had never been one to ask questions. 

Not to say she wasn't curious! Oh no, far from that. She'd always had a nose for finding things out, and her own way of doing so. People lied when you asked them questions, and they found ways to evade answers even if they were, _technically_ telling the truth. Mariella had never had the patience for that.

Mariella was not, on the whole, a very patient person. It would have surprised anyone who knew her well (which was, admittedly, almost nobody) to see her now, sitting very still on a very wide tree branch as the search party beneath her continued to run around and shout. 

It was a bit of a misunderstanding. Alright, so she _had_ held up the carriage and stolen everyone's money, their jewelry, and one fellow's particularly nice hat. And she had been doing that for the last three weeks (minus the hat - one only needed so many hats, after all). And alright, it was technically against the law to do so, and was considered a capital crime, which would result in said criminal being hanged. 

But really, if Mariella had been one to ask questions, she might have asked: why should _they_ have all that money, when I don't? What did any of them ever do, to be able to afford to prance around in fancy carriages while she plodded along in the mud? And really, if they couldn't hold on to all that money, why _shouldn't_ Mariella be the one to take it from them? 

Of course, if she'd thought to ask questions, she might have ended up in a slightly different situation. Namely, one where there was _not_ an angry group of people out for her head, while she was stuck up a tree in the supposedly haunted forest. Really, she had no idea why anyone ever considered it haunted. It was a forest like any other. 

Okay, so the trees _did_ grow very close together, and some of the eyes reflecting the torchlight didn't look right in a way that Mariella didn't want to examine too closely. But there were plenty of things in the world that people didn't know about, and that didn't make them cursed. 

Mariella shifted on her tree branch, trying to get more comfortable. At least she'd seen them in the distance, and managed to scramble up the tree before she had to worry about getting caught. And come to think of it, as close together as the trees were, she probably could just... move from tree to tree for a little bit, go a little deeper into the forest. Everyone said to stay out of it, but the terror of the unknown seemed less pressing than the noose. 

As quietly as possible, Mariella began to scoot along the branch. The other one was close enough that she could _just_ reach, if she crouched. She ended up sidling onto the next tree, and then the next, grasping branches and trunks as she made her way into the looming darkness of the trees. 

She lost her pursuers pretty quickly, although she'd hear them, now and then. She knew better than to light a candle - even if they didn't look up, as dark as it was in here it would probably shine like a star in a dark room. She'd taken her shoes and stockings off to scale the tree in the first place, and the laces dug into her neck, the heels banging against her chest. The bark was rough against her bare feet, but at least she could feel where she was going. 

She'd been sidling along the trees long enough that her arms had started to get sore when she saw the fire flickering in the distance. It was casting eerie shadows along the tree's bark, and Mariella could only vaguely make out the sight of an antlered shape sitting next to it. 

_Maybe it's one of the wildmen_ , Mariella thought. She'd heard rumors about men who lived in the forests, among the beasts. It probably wasn't true that they mated with animals and changed their shape at will, but a man in a deerskin wasn't too unusual. She'd known a few people who seemed to have one foot out the metaphorical door when it came to civilization, and there were worse places to flee to than the deep, dark woods. They’d probably be amicable for a little bit of company, especially if they couldn’t tell she was a woman. 

She did still have her cutlass, shoved into its scabbard and banging away at her thigh. Not that she was planning on using it, but… well. 

It was comforting to know it was there, even if she wasn't particularly good with it. Mostly she just had to gesture with it. Pity she'd left her pistols with her horse, tethered by the side of the road. 

Getting down the big tree took some time - she hadn't realized how _big_ it was, and the branches were far apart. She was sticky with sweat and panting by the time she got down to the ground, her fingers sore from all the gripping. The fire seemed bigger, this close - _of course it is_ , Mariella chided herself, as she made her way across the forest floor on her bare feet. _Things are always bigger close up._

The figure by the fire seemed bigger as well, but in ways that were beginning to set Mariella's teeth on edge. The figure didn't seem to scale, and it was hard to wrap her mind around. She put a hand on her cutlass, and she tried to walk as if she owned the place. She'd gotten into fights with big men before, and it wasn't _fun_ , but there were ways around it. 

The figure was sitting in a clearing by the fire, their elbows on their knees. They were staring into the fire, and the light was casting craggy shadows on their face. They looked like some ancient painting, or maybe a sculpture. The moon was round and full above them, and after the cover of the trees, was almost blindingly bright. Mariella blinked, trying to get assimilated, and she heard a throat being cleared. 

"Always room for some company," said a voice, and it was low, sweet. Something about it made all the hairs on the back of Mariella's neck stand up, and she shivered, rubbing her arms. 

"Wouldn't want to impose," said Mariella. She stood just outside the ring of light, and she was keenly aware of the sensation of other bodies nearby. Bigger, warmer bodies, just out of the corner of her eye.

"Not an imposition," said the stranger by the fire. "Come sit. I've more than enough to share."

The faint scent of roasting meat that had been on the edge of her senses was suddenly at the forefront, and Mariella's stomach growled. She flushed, looking down at her toes, and then she made her way into the light. 

The figure by the fire was seated in such a way as to still be in shadow, although the fire was bright enough that Mariella could just barely make out her shape. She could make out rough shapes - tapering antlers, broad shoulders. 

"I don't see a lot of your folks around here," said the figure. There was the sound of wood clunking against itself, and then a big hand was reaching around the fire, holding a wooden bowl. There was a hunk of bread sticking out as well, and Mariella's mouth watered. The last meal she'd eaten had been a greasy sausage, and it hadn't been particularly... appetizing, but it had filled her belly. She'd been planning on a grand meal, after she'd acquired more money. 

This wasn't exactly the grand meal she'd been planning, but the bread was soft, with sour notes that countered the richness of the stew. There weren't any utensils, but she could more or less scoop it all up with the bread, and it wasn't too much effort to pick the remaining bits out with her fingers. Her companion was quiet - almost eerily so. The only sounds were the quiet forest noises, and the crackling of the fire. Her own chewing was loud enough to take up her whole head.

As she finished eating, she became aware that she wasn't alone. Glancing around, she caught sight of more vague shapes, mostly shadow, even in the firelight. There were several pairs of eyes glinting back at her, not all of them paired. 

When Mariella had been very small, she had wandered into her brother's smithy. Her family didn't go to see him very often, so she didn't have any experience with the place, and it was so very different from her father's tailor shop. She had gotten the sense, at the time, that she was in a place that could hurt her or gift her with some immense fortune, if she only knew the right way to spin it. The feeling in the clearing was very similar, although she couldn't put her finger on _why_. Everything had taken on an eerie, dreamlike quality. 

The figure by the fire - a woman, Mariella was almost certain they were a woman - wasn't saying anything. When Mariella glanced up at her, she saw that her eyes were glittering like all the other things around the fire. 

"What brings you to my forest?" The woman asked. 

_This feels like a village party_ , Mariella thought, and that was a surreal road to go down, wasn't it? The image of this strange woman sitting at some village fete, sipping ale and nibbling bread popped into her head, and she bit back a grin that would probably come off as crazed. _She'd be taller than some of the men, especially with the antlers._

"I'll be out of your hair soon enough," said Mariella. "I'm sorry for intruding."

"You're not intruding," the woman said. "I'm glad for the company. Haven't seen a face like yours in a long time."

"A face like mine?" Mariella frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean by that."

"There are different sorts of faces," said the figure on the other side of the fire, seemingly untroubled by Mariella's prickliness. "We get certain types around here more often than others." 

There was more silence, only broken by the wind, the rustling branches, and the cracks and pops of the fire. 

"There's a man down one of the pubs along the road," Mariella said, to fill the silence. It was making her antsy. "He's got a pair of calipers, and he thinks the shape of the head has something to do with someone's criminality." 

"You can't read a person's soul by their skull," said the woman, her tone serene. 

"How can you read a person's soul?" Mariella asked. The conversation seemed vitally important, although she wasn't sure why. Everything seemed to be following dream logic, and she was just trying to keep up. 

"A long time ago, it was thought you could find someone's soul by reading their insides," said the woman. "The shape of their liver or the colors of their kidneys would tell you about their deepest, darkest selves." She made an amused noise. "I suppose you _would_ learn about them, since those are your deepest, darkest parts. You'd just be dead."

"I've never heard of that," said Mariella. "Sounds unpleasant."

"It was for those it was done to," said the woman. "I was offered people like that, sometimes."

_Offered? What does that mean?_ The sensation of being in over her head began to grow in Mariella's gut. It really was like being small and clueless, wandering around the forge. 

"Come sit by me," said the woman. "I'm cold."

Mariella wasn't cold in the slightest - it was a fairly warm night, and the fire was enough to make her sweat. There were... interesting intonations in the woman's voice, and Mariella wasn't sure what she was being asked. 

She stood up, looking over the fire at the person across from her. She still couldn't make out much of a face, although the great antlers stood out starkly. _I've never seen a woman wear a deerskin like that_ , she thought. _This could be dangerous._

The other choice was to go wandering through the woods on her own, which were dark and seemed to be full of rustling and eyes that reflected the fire back at her in unsettling ways. As far as she could tell, the other woman wasn't armed, while Mariella's cutlass still hung securely on her belt.

Mariella came around the fire, and she squinted. It was somehow dimmer on this side, and she couldn't make out the subtleties of the woman's face. She saw a nose, the hollows for eyes, the bend of a chin. She appeared to be wearing animal hides, the fur side facing out, and when she turned to face Mariella, her eyes glittered like the eyes just outside the firelight. 

_Maybe they're not animal hides_ , thought some crazed, terrified part of Mariella's mind, the part she normally tried to ignore. _Maybe she just has fur._

"Are you going to come sit next to me?" The woman asked, indicating the space on the ground beside her. 

Mariella sat down cautiously. Her head barely came up to the woman's shoulder. She was sitting with her legs tucked under her, but there was something about her knees that seemed... odd, although in the dim lighting, Mariella couldn't be sure. Despite her claiming to be cold, she seemed to be radiating feast like some great animal, and it sank into Mariella's skin through her clothing. 

"I've been lonely for some human companionship," said the woman, after a few minutes of quiet. 

"I can understand that," said Mariella. "I get lonely sometimes." She wasn't sure where that came from. She wasn't ordinarily one to talk about her feelings willy-nilly. 

"Do you want to stop being lonely?" The woman turned, to look down at Mariella. 

Mariella blinked. "I mean," she said, "doesn't everyone?" There was too much history to go into, especially on a dark night like tonight. 

There was a hand on her shoulder now, and the heat of it was enough to shock Mariella. So was the breath on her face, ruffling the hair off of her face. The nuzzling at her temple reminded her of her father's hounds, or maybe her horse, seeking affection. She brought a hand up, and was met by smooth skin instead of fur, which was a relief. When she turned her face, a pair of lips pressed against her own, and she sighed, letting her mouth slide open.

The other woman was an experienced kisser, and stronger than she seemed. Mariella found herself being pushed onto her back, the other, bigger body above her own. The tongue in her mouth was long and wet, hot against her own. The teeth that were nipping at her lips were just sharp enough to make her gasp, again and again. The little pinpricks of pain were like shots of light, candles being lit in the darkness. 

The other woman's big hands cradled Mariella's face, and when their kiss broke, they were forehead to forehead, nose to nose. "I want to keep you here, for a little while," said the woman. "Not forever, but... for now."

"I can stay, for now," said Mariella, and her voice only shook a little bit. When was the last time she had kissed someone? Let alone kissed someone while she was sober? 

There was an odd tightness around her ankles, crawling up her legs. There was an eerie calmness sitting in the pit of Mariella's stomach, and a distant part of her wondered why. She tried to lift her leg, and found it held down to the ground. 

The woman was still on top of her, and now big hands were grasping her wrists, forcing her to spread her arms wide, as if she was going to catch something. Something was crawling along her hands, and it took her a moment to realize it was... vines? She could hear the sound of the vines growing, as they wrapped around her wrists, and that couldn't be true, plants didn't just _grow_ like that. 

Unless.

"Are you magic?" Mariella asked, and she kept her tone one of gentle inquiry. Magical beings tended to take offense if you said the wrong thing. 

"I am," said the woman. She sat up, resting her weight on Mariella's thighs, and she was illuminated by the fire and framed by the moon. The antlers seemed to be coming out of her temples, and her eyes glowed. 

"Oh," said Mariella. _That's the sort of thing that should come up in the beginning of a conversation_ , she thought, and then she was being kissed again, as the woman's long hair fell down in a curtain around their faces, and Mariella's face was full of the scent of the other woman's breath, her skin. 

It was an old smell, a little like the greenness of high summer, a little like rain on hard ground. There was an almost unpleasant undertone, like rotting leaves, and then there was the feeling of a tongue against her own, and she was drowning in the feeling of warm skin on warm skin. She tugged on the vines holding her arms in place, and found herself stuck fast.

_I had half expected myself to end up tied to something and thrown in jail_ , Mariella thought, as the woman kissed along her neck. _I supposed this is still better than that._ She shivered as teeth nipped at her neck, and then her shirt was being untucked from her trousers, and pushed up over her belly. The woman ducked her head, and Mariella had to tilt her own head back, to keep from getting speared in the eye with an antler. 

"I'm more than magic," said the woman, and the feeling of her lips moving against Mariella's bare stomach was ticklish. She pressed a wet, sucking kiss to the soft spot right under Mariella's left breast, then moved up. Her tongue was very long, as it circled around the tip of Mariella's nipple, and then she was sucking the whole of it into her mouth.

Mariella hissed, her back arching. The woman took more of Mariella's breast into her mouth, still sucking, and the fingers of her other hand were twisting Mariella's other nipple, pinching and pulling it, then letting go and switching sides. She pushed Mariella’s breasts together and let her tongue flicker along her nipples, then let them go to knead at each breast like bread dough and mouth at Mariella’s pulse point. 

"I'm the god of these woods," the woman said, and she said it so matter of factly, as if she was conveying the weather. "In the old days, your people would leave me sacrifices and offerings, but you seem to have forgotten me." 

"I'm sorry," said Mariella, or maybe she didn't say it, but she certainly thought it. The god's hand was between her legs, forcing the fabric of her breeches up against her cunt, and the pleasure was like a hot wire running under her skin. 

"They'll come back," the woman said, and she seemed unconcerned. She grabbed Mariella's breeches by the waist, and she _ripped_ , pulling them open and leaving Mariella bare from the waist down, apart from a few tatters clinging to her legs. More cold air against her bare skin, sending ripples of goose bumps, and the contrast was so strong that she shuddered. Or maybe that was the tongue, swirling over her nipple again. 

_I needed those_ , Mariella thought, but it was a far away thought. Everything seemed far away, as the woman's mouth kissed down her belly, nuzzling into the softness of it. She was staring at the dancing tree branches, which seemed to grow and shrink with the flickering shadows. The woman's mouth was hot, and her nose was cold. Her antlers brushed against Mariella's breasts occasionally, and they were just as solid as the rest of her. 

"You always come back," the woman said. Her teeth sank into Mariella's hip, and Mariella howled up to the sky. 

There were answering howls, in the distance. 

"I've never been here before," Mariella murmured. She didn't know if the woman could even hear her, over the snap and pop of the wood in the fire. 

The woman didn't answer. She nipped at the soft spot under Mariella's navel, and then she was kissing lower. The vines at her ankles were moving again, pulling her legs further open, and then the woman was crouched there, like some kind of great beast. Mariella's heart was in her throat, staring up at the god's face. 

She was older than Mariella could comprehend - there was history in her eyes, a history that predated books, predated metal, predated language. The face staring into Mariella's own looked human, apart from the antlers, and the hands that were tracing down her thighs certainly _felt_ human. 

"You may come back again," said the woman. She was wriggling some more, lying flat on her belly, and somehow her legs weren't going into the fire. There was something peculiar going on with the space, but Mariella didn't care about that anymore, because the woman's mouth was right on her cunt, licking a line from her hole to her clit. She gasped, her hips shifting forward, yanking at the vines holding her wrists in place.

They held her in place, as the woman pushed Mariella's labia open, her long, hot tongue sliding all the way into Mariella, her nose pressing against Mariella's clit. Her fingers were digging into Mariella's hips, hard enough to leave bruises, and the little bits of pain seemed to feed the growing heat in Mariella's gut. 

Mariella's hips rocked forward, greedily trying to get more stimulation. She wished she could grab the woman's antlers, or hold her face. Wished she could pull her own hair, or pinch her own nipples. Lying like this, she just had to _take_ it, and she'd never been especially good at that. She tried to pick the pace up, grinding harder, but the woman just pressed Mariella's hips into the dirt. 

Mariella came for the first time while she stared up at the moon, her toes curling in loam and pine needles, her cunt fluttering around the woman's tongue. Her whole body was as tight as a bowstring, and then it was being pulled tighter, as the woman _kept going_ , her lips sealing around Mariella's clit. She sucked, her tongue flickering over it, and one of her long, clever fingers slid inside. They crooked, pressing against something inside of Mariella that made the stars before her eyes swim like they were underwater.

She could hear her own cries over the fire, as the woman added another finger and kept licking and licking, her tongue swirling, tapping, doing all sorts of things that she couldn't even comprehend, except that they were happening and they were _good_ , good enough to make her eyes roll back in her head. This was beyond sexual pleasure - Mariella was reminded of the religious ecstasy she'd heard the priests mention, when there was a quiet moment and she was disguised as a man. The pleasure that pulsed through her seemed to be unending, and the voice in her head - the same as the woman's voice, the god's - seemed to send another orgasm through her with every word. 

“Go and tell them about me,” said the god, in the confines of Mariella’s skull, and then she seemed to be wrenching pleasure out of Mariella’s very _soul_. “I miss you. All of you.”

And then she passed out.

* * *

Mariella woke up to sunlight dappling over her face. When she pulled her arms up, the vegetation that had been holding her in place crumbled away to dust. She sat up, and saw that her legs had been covered by the hide of some great beast, warm and hairy. 

“Well,” she said into the empty clearing and the ashes in the fire pit. “That was certainly something.” 

She wrapped the hide around herself, staring thoughtfully into the ashes. It couldn’t hurt to stay another night or two. They were probably still looking for her, And maybe she’d run into the god again tonight. Maybe she could make an offering. What would make a good offering?

Only until things had quieted down, obviously. Hopefully.

She very pointedly ignored the way her heart beat a little faster, and stood up on shaking legs.


End file.
